A Passion for Churches (1974)

Directed by

Edward Mirzoeff

Genre

documentary film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

49 min

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Poet John Betjeman visits churches in the Anglican Diocese of Norwich during the spring leading up to Easter. He observes different rituals and shares his personal reflections on the buildings and their meaning.

contemplativereverentgentlenostalgicobservantserenepoeticintimate

What happens

A Passion for Churches is a 1974 BBC television documentary written and presented by the then Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman and produced and directed by Edward Mirzoeff. Commissioned as a follow-up to the critically acclaimed 1973 documentary Metro-land, the film offers Betjeman's personal poetic record of the various rituals taking place throughout the Anglican Diocese of Norwich and its churches in the run-up to Easter Sunday using the framing device of the Holy sacraments. Created with the approval of the Bishop of Norwich, Maurice Wood, the 49-minute film was shot on location in Norfolk and parts of Suffolk throughout the spring of 1974 on 16 mm colour film by cameraman John McGlashan. For the film, John Betjeman wrote an original poetic commentary consisting of blank verse, free verse, and prose and he appeared on-screen in several segments to describe features of ecclesiastical buildings and to reminisce about his lifelong "passion for churches". The programme was praised by critics upon its original BBC 2 screening in December 1974 and gained high audience appreciation figures. It has since been repeated on BBC Four in 2006. It was released on a limited-edition DVD in 2007. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• Summoned by Bells (1976)
• John Betjeman Goes By Train (1962)
• John Betjeman: A Poet in London (1959)
• An Artist Looks at Churches (1959)
• Metro-Land (1973)
• Holland i Påskesol (1971)
• Påske i Jerusalem (1972)
• Late Flowering Lust (1994)